Brussels to unveil memorial to victims of 2016 terror attacks

A Belgian artist is installing a metal sculpture shaped like rising waves near the seat of the European Union to honor the victims of the militant attacks on Brussels a year ago that killed 32 people and wounded hundreds.

The sculpture by Belgian artist Jean-Henri Compère, titled “Wounded But Still Standing in Front of the Inconceivable,” was constructed from a pair of steel slabs raised skyward in an expression of hope.

On March 22, 2016, 32 people were killed in separate attacks on the Brussels airport and subway, the worst such attack in Belgian history. It followed coordinated attacks on Paris four months earlier that killed 130 people and sent shockwaves across Europe and beyond.

The sculpture is constructed from two 20-metre long horizontal surfaces rising skywards.

Compère said the sculpture could also symbolize two plane wings, or a subway train.

“It’s a piece that should stay in the city,” he said. “I want that the sculpture lives with the city, that it takes on its sheen, that it gets through the years, because time helps us build ourselves back up.”

Compère’s work seeks to honor the victims of other mass attacks that have shaken Europe and Africa, including the ones in Paris and Nice, France; Bamako, Mali and Sousse, Tunisia during the past two years.

The memorial will be unveiled on March 22, exactly one year after the attacks.